Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 67: If, God forbid … an individual from Israel enhances and appreciates one’s externality, which is the nations of the world in him, more than the inner Israel in him, meaning the externality in that person rises and soars, you yourself, the internality, the Israel in you, plunges down. With these actions, one causes the externality of the world in general —the nations of the world—to soar ever higher and overcome Israel, degrading them to the ground, and the children of Israel, the internality in the world, to plunge deep down.

This is what has been going on since the days of the Maccabeans and even in the times of the Second Temple, when they tried to disseminate Greek culture among the people. If we check this throughout history, we’ll see that every time we had a chance to avoid great trouble we didn’t do so.

But today, when we must finally fulfill the plan of creation and have all the necessary means, we surely have to feel that we are indeed responsible for the whole world. The Nazis brought suffering not only to the Jews—the pain and suffering were afflicted upon many people. According to the estimates of historians, 60 million people died during WWII.

We should understand that today we are facing the same danger, but it concerns the whole world. Hitler was no more than a puppet. This, of course, doesn’t justify his atrocities, but ultimately it’s about a very negative combination of forces that was created by those who have free will because of the disrespect towards the spiritual goal.

There are actually no “negative figures” in the world. These are simply the same “positive figures” that appear so that we will correct them. And if not, they are depicted to us as “negative figures,” up to such extremes. In general it’s about a unified system.

Today, as we enter a new era, we should draw conclusions and learn from what we’ve been through. As unpleasant as it may sound, we have caused all the troubles. We should be careful so as not to summon this nightmare upon the whole world in the future.

Baal HaSulam warns us about it in simple direct words. He says that Nazism can return, and we cannot be sure that it will not happen. People always say “never again!” as if they understand how to manage the world. Actually you can say that if you advance by the upper Light, you know for sure what is ahead. But you know nothing about the system and are not trying to correct it, so your words are worthless and you advance from one blow to another.

It’s time to wake up and to understand that the choice is in our hands.
[75746]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/2012 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 71: Each of us remainders should take upon himself, heart and soul, to henceforth intensify the internality of the Torah, and give it its rightful place, according to its merit over the externality of the Torah.

And then, each and every one of us will be rewarded with intensifying his own internality, meaning the Israel within us, which is the needs of the soul over our own externality, which is the nations of the world within us, that is, the needs of the body. That force will come to the whole of Israel, until the nations of the world within us recognize and acknowledge the merit of the great sages of Israel over them, and will listen to them and obey them.

Also, the internality of the nations of the world, the righteous of the nations of the world, will overpower and submit their externality, which are the destructors. And the internality of the world, too, which are Israel, shall rise in all their merit and virtue over the externality of the world, which are the nations. Then, all the nations of the world will recognize and acknowledge Israel’s merit over them. And they shall follow the words (Isaiah 14, 2), “And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord.” And also (Isaiah 49, 22), “And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.”

On every level, everything depends on the correlation between internality and externality, and the upper levels determine what will happen on the lower levels. So each of us, meaning anyone who is studying the wisdom of Kabbalah and who belongs to “Israel,” that is, to the category that aspires straight to the Creator (Yashar – El), determines how things will develop by preferring internality over externality, by placing the spiritual advancement, love, connection, and bestowal over the external part in him, which is based on self-interest, success, honor, a desire to control others, and so on. This internal conflict within each of us and the way it’s expressed in the group determines where the world is headed.

But if everything depends on us, what do we need dissemination for? The point is that today the whole world needs to examine the relationship between internality and externality. On every degree, on every level, everyone should make a decision regarding this and prefer unification—in order to join us. Then “the nations of the world,” or our egoistic desires will support the altruistic part that leads the world forward.

Thus, as we’ve already said, everything depends on the correlation between internality and externality, between spiritual advancement and all corporeal interests. So a big question is: What can we do so that there will be no more disasters? As difficult as it may seem, we must accept what Baal HaSulam says: “There is none else besides Him,” and “the law is given and cannot be transgressed,” and no one can influence the advancement of the world except those who have access to the Light that Reforms.

So we have to admit that we are responsible for the afflictions in the world and the troubles we experience. This is what Baal HaSulam says: Since Israel preferred externality over internality and didn’t open the wisdom of Kabbalah in the right time, to this extent they summoned the Holocaust upon themselves….
[75749]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/2012 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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“Zohar For All – Passover,” “Bo (Come unto Pharaoh),” Item 174: … It is written, “A land where you shall eat bread without scarceness.” “Scarceness” is bread of affliction. It is called, “bread of affliction” because the moon, Malchut, has been waned and is not blessed by the sun, ZA, and does not shine from the sun, as it is written, “For all that is in the heaven and in the earth.” This means that, “All,” which is Yesod ZA, clings to the heaven, ZA, and to the earth, Malchut, receiving from the heaven and giving to the earth.

The main thing is the relationship between Zeir Anpin and Malchut, because Bina, by formatting Zeir Anpin its bestowal upon Malchut, actually shows that if Malchut doesn’t adapt itself to Zeir Anpin, it is in smallness and it doesn’t even have the head of the Partzuf. Therefore, it is called Zeir Anpin, “a small face,” and Malchut has nothing, which is the point of darkness.

It says that there is no Creator without a created being, since Zeir Anpin is artificial. It is a tool that was created by Bina, which is empty and which becomes full, whole, and big according to how much Malchut can reach an equivalence of form with it.

It turns out that Malchut determines the size of Zeir Anpin since it has nothing of its own except what it needs to take, the attributes from Bina, and to arrange them, and thus bring Malchut to the level of Bina and then to the level of Keter.

The Creator is called Kadosh Baruch Hu (The Holy One, Blessed), because this Partzuf is holy for us—by holy we mean the one who bestows. He sets an example for us as to what we should be, He corrects us and we reach an adhesion with Him, but actually there is no Creator without the created being. It is because He has no form if we don’t stabilize a certain deficiency or a desire below. By that deficiency we reveal Him to the Light of Bina, which then fills Him.

This is a very special mechanism. Zeir Anpin always, wherever we study about it, in the four phases of the direct Light, or in other places, is a “small face,” we go over it quickly and there is nothing we can say about it. We must understand that Zeir Anpin is the adaptor between Hochma and Bina, (father and mother) and Malchut. On the side of Bina it has the attributes of Hassadim and doesn’t need anything. If it has a deficiency on the side of Malchut, then accordingly the Lights of Hassadim will be revealed in it and it will be filled with the Light of Hochma, but only if Malchut will want to adhere to it.

Zeir Anpin is VAK, (six Sefirot), and Malchut is a point. VAK symbolizes that it is empty and is ready to develop according to the point of Malchut if it wants to become more than a point.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/12, The Zohar

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If we are in our desire to receive yearning only to receive a filling, we don’t feel that there is something else outside our desire. We only understand that there is a void in us that must be filled and that feels that it is empty. As long as our desire doesn’t receive all the filling, it will not calm down. It is like a crying baby that doesn’t calm down until he receives everything that he needs.

How can we teach such a desire to receive another pleasure, pleasure from bestowal? It doesn’t even understand what it is, and cannot feel and do such a thing. But gradually we begin to teach it according to a plan.

The whole study is based on the readiness to suffer, because the desire needs to give up its filling, to give up the desire for the filling, to give up the feeling of the self, the self pride, the envy, the respect, and the control, which means its independence.

At first a person thinks that he can correct himself, until he sees that it is impossible, and that it can only be realized by the upper force. He learns from failing all the time. Thus he is taught that he should lower his head and ask, ask for the one thing that he doesn’t want. Then he receives help and changes, becoming his opposite, by beginning to enjoy what was hateful before.

We have to go through this whole process in understanding, in recognition, in agreement, in our feelings and in the mind, in our consciousness. Everything you were proud of before and considered respectable, now seems the opposite, and you discover your lowliness and your helplessness. Our desire to receive, which doesn’t know anything but to fill itself, feels all this when it learns about a totally new method.

This process takes place according to the three symbols: “Pesach” (Passover), “Matzah,” and “Maror” (bitter herb). It is called “Pesach” from the Hebrew root to skip, as a person constantly jumps from one side to its opposite, and so he turns his small measures of receiving into bestowal. He does that by Matzah, “the bread of affliction,” since he has no other food and he agrees to settle for what he receives from bestowal.

A person constantly raises the importance of bestowal, while his desire to receive only gets the “bitter herb.” Thus he raises the right line, the Matzah, over the left line, the bitter herb, like a hero who overcomes the bitter taste and wants to turn it to the sweetness of bestowal. Then he reaches Pesach, the changing of his consciousness.

By the new attitude towards the desire to receive, that doesn’t change, he builds the human in him. “Adam” (Man) is what is built above the desire. This is the system that begins to work according to the new principle with the same natural attributes, but by using them in order to bestow.

The mechanism, that is created by that is made of all the person’s actions and exertions as he overcomes his desire to receive, is what is called “Adam.” All this is done by the three special components that symbolize the holiday of freedom from the ego, Pesach, that are called Pesach, Matzah, and bitter herb.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/12, Writings of Rabash

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In Egypt we had plenty of material benefits, everything except one thing: bestowal without any calculation for oneself, which is called the spiritual work in the desert. Man doesn’t strive for this, and it is impossible to strive for this above the constantly growing ego. One has to constantly fight the ego as he connects more and more with others, until they all become a single whole.

“The thing is that, indeed, they were very fond of the work in Egypt.” It was a wonderful consumer society: You worked, earned, and succeeded. Everything was up to you; everything was clear, according to the order, the laws of democracy.

As it says: “…’But they mingled themselves with the nations, and learned their works.'” That is, everything was managed only by the desire to receive at every level, in every appeal. “It means that if Israel are under the dominion of a certain nation…” that is, if the point in the heart, the direction towards bestowal, the spiritual spark, is under the dominion of a person’s ego, then the desire for spirituality only helps the ego develop in different directions. And there is no way to break free from this slavery because a person sees that he can even profit from his aspiration to spirituality.

Thus different altruistic organizations and mystical practices, anything that is a bit above the simple ego and can fill a person, come into being. Such people feel that they are fulfilled, perfect, and elevated, and it seems to them that they don’t lack anything. This is a sign that the point in the heart is under the rule of Pharaoh, and this is why it all looks so good: altruism, mysticism, or New Age. These people don’t suffer and only want to make others like them.

While Israel (those who yearn for the Creator) suffers, works hard, and fights with problems. After all, a person works against the ego that is getting stronger all the time. So on one hand, he has all material benefits, a “pot full of meat” as it was in Egypt, and in spirituality there is nothing: a desert, the dry land, only faith. And so a person is constantly torn between the two points, trying to decide what he should do.

It seems that by leaving Egypt we are separating from it totally. But in spirituality it isn’t so because when you fall, it is as if you fall back. Of course, it isn’t the same state because it is a new degree, and so the troubles begin already in the desert: snakes, scorpions, quarrels, all sorts of problems, and diseases. The ascents and descents come one after the other and are combined in one person.
[74790]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/2012, Shamati #159 

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During the preparation for correction the order of the inner work is as follows: Wanting to connect with the friends, I pressure myself and make great efforts. In response, the Light, the force that helps me connect, shines on me. Finally, I complete the connection and immediately the AHP of the higher degree, whose desire to receive is even lower and thicker than mine, is revealed. As a result, I feel that I am in an even greater exile.

So it turns out that the more I try to reach goodness, bestowal, the deeper I sink into evil. However, this immersion into evil is comprised of two parts: On one hand, I still remember the connection that was achieved, the closeness to the friends, and on the other, a new corrupt desire is now revealed to me, even worse than before.

Thus during the period of exile, I grow not in a linear way, but step-by-step. By attaining connection I fall, and not by one degree but by two. It’s because in the beginning I rose to unification (+), then I fell to detachment (-), and so now I feel a double descent (x2). Then everything repeats again and again: I rise and fall even lower.

I always fall not to the previous level of the ego, but from the level I rose to. Therefore, because of every ascent, the next fall is twice as bad. When I rise, I ascend in bestowal, and when I fall, I descend into receiving and into the filth.

Thus a person expands his vessels by building-up the good according to the evil, and thanks to that he advances during the 400 years of exile.

The exile begins when we approach unification in the group. It ends when, having given all our powers to unification, we reach a point when we cannot connect.

During this process we unite and become the people of Israel. It isn’t the same small group that once descended into Egypt because of internal conflicts, like the conflict of Joseph and his brothers, for example. One united nation comes out of Egypt, although it is still impossible to attain Godliness by this unification. At the present state the form of unity is revealed as the control of the desire to receive. Only by our last effort does the escape, the exit from the ego, occur.

In spirituality we also walk on “two legs”: from unity to separation and then to unity again. Pharaoh grows, so does Moses opposite to him, and the Creator is revealed.… All these discernments become greater and greater, and we don’t escape them, but carry on with our work.
[74558]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/2012, Writings of Rabash 

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (The Steps of the Ladder), 1985, Article 15: And the more they afflicted them”: “And the shell of Egypt, is the general shell, where the sparks of Holiness fell, that the People of Israel who were in Egypt, had to correct them. Then there must first be such pain and suffering that they can’t leave their control, as it says “and the Children of Israel sighed from the work, and they cried out, and their cry rose to the Lord from the work, and the Lord heard their sigh.

There must be a feeling of exile, there must be such strong suffering and pain that “it is better to die than to live” if I can’t come out of Egypt, if I don’t achieve what I want. My desire has to be so big. Otherwise it isn’t a vessel; it isn’t a place for the revelation of what we are looking for.

At the same time, my crying out should be strong not only in quantity but also in quality. I have to know what I am yearning for in exile, what I want to discover, what is happening to me.

So the exile is the most serious preparation for redemption. In exile I clarify things, by clarifying what exactly I want and in what way. This is the reason why the exile cannot be less than 400 years, according to the four phases we go through when we build our vessel. Only at the end of this process can we come out of exile and really receive what we have prepared. The upper Light has no form and now too it fills everything, but we don’t feel it. We must acquire the four phases, a whole vessel, and then the Light will be revealed.

So it isn’t about 400 years, but actually about four whole phases of building our vessel. The forms we develop in it totally depend on each of us. Of course, we receive the initial spur from Above as it is written: “The Creator puts a person’s hand on the good fate and tells him, take it.” But later on a person’s fate is in his own hands.
[74644]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/12, Writings of Rabash

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We are nearing the exodus from exile only when we begin to understand that we are in it. “Exile” symbolizes my perception of everything that I receive in my desire to receive as worthless and unimportant. Everything that is in my ego belongs to “Pharaoh,” and I am allowed to receive only what is necessary.

This doesn’t mean that I have to limit myself in every way, like a monk living in the desert. I simply don’t see anything material as very important, and accept it as necessary for my existence. All my life is devoted to achieving love for the Creator, the general attribute of bestowal, through the connection with others.

If a person has such an internal necessity and he is included in the group, he begins to aim himself correctly, which means to hate everything he receives in his ego, trying to be satisfied with what is essential. At the same time Pharaoh bribes him and gives him everything. This means that he builds beautiful cities for his ego, Pithom and Ramses.

He feels that in relation to the intention of in order to bestow in which he wants to be in his thoughts and heart, he is in exile, because he has no powers to bestow. Then he feels that he has complaints towards the Creator, for not helping him come out of exile, which means that He doesn’t let him be the one who bestows.

But in the meantime a person’s desire is very small and he has to go through 400 years in exile. This means that he has to raise his desire until he will really want to bestow.

All our work in the exile in Egypt is in a group in which everyone grows stronger and receives from others the greatness of the goal, the pure bestowal, and the nothingness and meanness of his preset state in which it is impossible to achieve mutual bestowal. From a spiritual point of view, this is very bad.

So a person begins to perceive the term “exile” correctly: exile refers to bestowal, the ability to bestow, and so he really feels that he is in exile in Egypt. Until he reaches a state in which he cannot bear it any more. Then the “ten plagues of Egypt” begin.

A “plague” or blow symbolizes the fact that you are offered different good corporeal things, but in spirituality you receive nothing, and a person feels this as a blow.

He feels the hardening of the heart, and the corporeal desires keep growing. He has no choice. He understands that the egoistic desire will continue to grow and to confuse him by distracting him and drawing his attention to different corporeal goals, different clarification in the group, so that he will overcome the corporeal ego by the contact with the friends. Only from them can he learn to appreciate the way and the goal of creation more, the greatness of the Creator, and the meanness of the egoistic filling.

One can receive all these values only from the society, from the environment. Then, despite the difficulties and the interruptions, he still adheres to the group above his feelings and his mind because only in it does he find protection and salvation. He understands that otherwise he is lost. He understands that only when he looks above the egoistic desire because from the point of view of the ego the situation could be wonderful and bring knowledge and other benefits.

When he interprets the whole situation correctly, he discovers that he is facing Pharaoh. This stems from many reasons, attributes, and attempts that he accumulates for 400 years in exile in Egypt: the four phases he has been through in each of his desires to receive when he raised the yearning for bestowal above it, which is called “faith above reason.”

Going through these four phases is called “the time of preparation.” And when it is about to end, a strong resistance to the ego is revealed, called the ten plagues of Egypt, darkness. These are final clarifications and revelations that really help a person exit the slavery to his ego.

Thanks to them he grows stronger and finally escapes in the dark, at night, feeling them in his desire to receive with one point that leads him, called “Moses.” Thus he raises his ego and achieves redemption.
[74637]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/12, Shamati

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Until the “Exodus from Egypt,” we go through many different periods, adventures, and states that are quite dramatic where we stand before the egoistic force trying to do something with it. On the whole, we don’t need to fight it; we should only aim ourselves at the right connection among us. Then this force will help us.

It is constantly evoked, creating interruptions and problems, which you should solve by mutual cooperation with others. You solve them by rising above them; you are building love above hate.

It is impossible to reach anything without obstacles. They are what help us unite, just as other obstacles and minor problems give a taste to love. Otherwise it would be one continuous feeling, which would be tasteless and totally not understood.

We should prepare ourselves for these states, so that each time, when we are repelled by the unity among us, we will immediately respond to it correctly.

If a person is depressed, feels dissatisfied, disappointed, powerless, he should understand that he must forcefully “bring” himself into the group and then his eyes will immediately open up. And he will feel life and different emotions.
[74483]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 4/1/12

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Question: The upcoming Saturday is traditionally called Great Saturday (Shabbat HaGadol) as it leads into the holiday of liberation, Passover. What makes the spiritual work that is carried out on this Saturday special?

Answer: This Saturday is called “great” because additional Light is present in it. In spiritual work, this Great Saturday doesn’t come to a person according to a calendar on a wall, but can happen any time of the year.

Nevertheless, there is a connection between the material branch and its spiritual root, and the upcoming Saturday is in some ways unique. Additional Light acts during Great Saturday, and it is capable of awakening a person to exit the exile to which the holiday of Passover is dedicated. This entire time is special and extremely favorable for inner work.

This influence appears on the still level, but we nevertheless respond to that kind of influence too. It is felt in all aspects of life. Even nature is waking up; it is springtime!
[74057]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/30/2012, Shamati #190

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